Castlefield Gallery Associates Spotlight: Matthew Wood

This month we have asked Matthew Wood to contribute to our Castlefield Gallery Associates Spotlight series, in which current Castlefield Gallery Associates share their thoughts on what the programme offers and how it has been useful for them.

Can you tell us a little bit about your practice?

I’m a visual artist, probably best known for my detailed pencil drawings of people stacked on each other shoulders. They are a monotonous pursuit of perfection, which I then make slightly off. And although my practice takes various other forms – filmmaking, painting, sculpture – I always find myself coming back to drawing, as it is the most immediate, the most fundamental and the most elemental medium.

I look outwards a lot; I collect things. Things I see, things I overhear, moments that often go unnoticed. I’m drawn to humour, the absurd, comedy and tragedy, the ugly and the beautiful. I’m fascinated by ritual, behaviours and the way we treat each other, the self, spectacle, certainty, the crowd and the angry mob, the flawed paradoxes within our humanity. Our capacity for such compassion and empathy; for such selfishness, greed and chaos.

I’m always learning and unlearning. Fascinated with detail, I would typically seek to control every detail within my work, especially within my drawing, but I’m constantly trying to surrender more; to be more instinctual, less precious, making mistakes and letting those mistakes influence the work. I find the accidents are usually more interesting, something bigger than me influencing the work. The process is always a trial: order and disorder.

I dabble in curating, most recently producing ‘Seeing Things’, a contemporary art exhibition in an impressive statement space at The Edge Wigan, funded by Arts Council England. I’m really interested in how and where we experience and engage with art. Seeking opportunities to make and show work in interesting places outside of the typical ‘white cubes’: public art in corridors, bars, restaurants, warehouses, empty, unused and unexplored spaces.